Emerald Spire 34.0 - The Garden Theatre
The group spent the night resting and recuperating at the spa, going over their newly-found magical items and rejuvenating themselves and, in some cases, their appearances. Kormon, still unsettled by the presence of the fabrication machine, tried to get some more concrete information about how it worked from Host and the other spa attendants. Host was by far the most knowledgeable but even he had limited capacity to explain. However, he did impress upon Kormon that it could functionally create a neigh-limitless army with no difficulty as it could pull raw materials from other planes. This did nothing to convince Kormon that the machine shouldn't be destroyed immediately; Marin disagreed with this plan as he saw no threat from the spa attendants and did not want to jeopardize the one safe place they had left in the area by interfering with the device. Afterwards, Jaquarl approached Kormon while he was alone and asked to be told straight what he and his companions' goals were; he owed them a debt and wished to settle it as effectively as possible. When Kormon vaguely explained that they wanted to keep the spire 'out of the hands of others', Kormon was pleasantly surprised to learn that Jaquarl shared his belief that the spire needed to be destroyed. Though Jaquarl was obviously loathe to say bad things about his ruler, he was adamant that Sabreal should not have free access to Materia and he was willing to risk his position, and his life, to ensure that it stayed out of reach. With Jaquarl's belief that the machine would certainly cease functioning with the destruction of the spire, and that Host was extremely unlikely to make an army before that happened, Kormon resolved that the fabrication device could be left alone for the time being. When everyone was rested and ready, they were led to the service elevator in the back which would lead them to the next floor which Host described as the pleasure gardens. Host had fabricated himself a new body in the interim and now looked shiny, respectable, and the picture of tact. He bid them farewell and told them to return at any time. Taking the elevator down, they found themselves in a small antechamber. The double doors that led out were emblazoned with a large, seven-pointed sigil; Amara recognized it as the royal seal of the Magelord of Conjuration and Jaquarl theorized that it was part of a containment seal, something that had likely broken down on other floors and had led to 'disasters' like the flooded chamber and the lava flow. Stepping through, they saw themselves on a ledge overlooking a vast, overgrown garden filled with alien plants and lit by enormous crystals that shone on the ceiling. The spire was arranged like some sort of fountain surrounded by a river that they could hear flowing. Across from them on the balcony, they could see another set of doors engraved with music and masks: a theater. Marin, interest piqued, went inside as the others lingered near the doorway. The room was indeed a theater carved from the rock face. However, it was ruined from long years of neglect and it seemed as though a cage had been built over the orchestral pit. When Marin poked around he was suddenly greeted by an imp wearing fancy clothing and holding a conductor wand. A band of green crystal was clamped firmly around his neck. The imp grinned madly, asking the audience to be seated as he started the performance. He raised his wand and a bolt of lightning arced out, hitting something in the orchestral pit that made a horrific wailing groan. The imp laughed maniacally as it 'conducted' and the gibbering shrieks were compounded by the sounds of wailing specters that manifested on the stage to 'sing along'. No amount of pleading from Marin could stop the imp, so he went up to the devil and grabbed the wand. With the performance disturbed, the specters vanished. The imp tried to bite Marin's arm to no avail so Marin yanked the wand away. This led the imp to start a shrieking fit and he wailed as he tried to get his baton back. Marin tried to talk to him, and threatened to break the wand if he didn't comply, but the imp did nothing but scream unabated. Frustrated, Marin punched the imp away from him, led everyone out and slammed the doors to the theater shut; rather than try to open the doors and follow, the imp could be heard collapsing to the floor and sobbing piteously, whispering to himself over and over about 'no hope'. Marin passed the wand over to Amara, who was rather uncomfortable to be receiving it, before opening the doors again. The imp was broken, lying wretchedly on the floor and hugging himself as he cried. Amara and Jaquarl, at Marin's behest, looked over the collar. Amara confirmed that it was some sort of summoning ritual, which was strange to be written up so small on an artifact like that, while Jaquarl wrinkled his nose, explaining that it was a distressing sort of binding indeed. Demonstrating what he meant, he stepped on the passive imp's skull, crushing it and sending the extraplanar back to where it came from. However, mere seconds later, the imp reappeared on the stage: the collar prevented desummoning. Marin knew immediately what to do: taking Kormon's crystal pickaxe, he walked up to the stage and, when the imp still refused to engage in conversation, he smashed the collar with it. The imp vanished, this time for good. Marin nodded his head slowly, convinced he had done a good thing. As Marin continued to look about slowly, taking in the ambiance and trying to envision what this stage might have been like in its prime, Vibol called out to him to run: a gibbering mouther, an enormous specimen that had been the source of the wailing earlier, began to squeeze itself out of the cage that apparently wasn't designed to hold it very well. Marin dashed back towards the door, telling Amara to zap it again. Though the lightning obviously hurt it, it did nothing to stop it from escaping; as the group slammed the doors shut, Marin theorized that it had been there so long, it was more psychologically trapped by the imp than anything else.Category:Emerald Spire